You Found Me

You Found Me - Chapter Twenty-Eight.

really really short chapter because if it were long it would kill the mood ok

It was like my screams never ended.

Not when the police burst through the door and pinned the gunman to the wall.

Not when the paramedics rushed my father out of the door on a stretcher.

Not when Niall's arms wrapped around me, trying to hold me back from charging straight at this horrible man who had tried to take my mother away...and had just taken my father.

A police officer told us that my father was in critical condition, and that we were to come to the hospital and then to the police station for questioning.

"Could you take us there?" Niall asked shakily. 

The man just nodded, looking warily at me as if I might explode. And to be quite honest, I felt like I could. Like I might explode. Maybe it would be easier if I did. No more stress. No more loss. No more nothing.

But wait. A single thought jarred me back to my senses. There was this boy, here, holding me right now, that held me back. I couldn't leave him. He was the only thing that mattered to me now.

The police officer led Niall and I toward his cruiser. I sat there, numb, next to Niall for the entirety of the car ride, exchanging no words.

Harry, Lucy, Zayn, Liam, and Louis met us at the hospital. Kristine was not with them. According to police files, she ran from town the second I left for the coffee shop and hadn't been seen since. If Harry was upset about this, he didn't show it.

A tall, willowy nurse led us down the somber halls into an open room. I cringed, holding onto Niall's hand. Hospitals had too many bad connotations for me. There, the nurse left us with a simple, "Make it quick, please." 

Before I had time to prepare myself, I was inside, standing next to a cold shell of my father as the life wore out of him.

"Dad," I said. I wasn't sure what to say. This man had been gone from my life for so long that I couldn't really say anything. I didn't know him.

"Hey, Alls." Oh, man. That broke my resolve. I felt my eyes welling up, but pushed them aside. I needed to address the more pressing question.

"Why...why did you do that? Save me. How...Why were you there?" 

"I was there because I had a feeling," my father said in a voice quite unlike his own. "I kept getting strange...things, that I knew could only be from him."

So he got those, too. I was wrong, then. They weren't from my father.

"I had to find you. I couldn't let him hurt you. So I left. Even though...I knew you never wanted to see me again."

"Why did you leave us?" I asked quickly. "We needed you, Aidan and I. I mean, Aidan's great and all that, but he wasn't the greatest makeshift father."

"I had to," he said weakly. "If I had stayed with you...Nolan would have found you. I knew he would come as soon as he heard about your mother. I had to keep you safe. I'm so sorry."

"I'm sorry, too," I whispered.

"I love you, Allie-gator."

"Love you, too, Dad."

"Stay strong, okay?"

"Okay."

And that was it. It was that quick. My father sat his head back down on his pillow and the light left his eyes.

- - - - - - - - - -

"Hey, Niall."

He looked up from his phone. The lights had dimmed down to a flicker in the lobby of the hospital, where he and I sat alone, unable to leave. 

"Yeah?"

"I think...Okay, you're going to think I'm crazy."

"I know you're crazy," Niall said, chuckling, shifting his arm around me.

"I think I'm going to go back to California."

Niall looked at me. Obviously he wasn't expecting that. "Allie...wait. I know this is really hard for you. I get that. But going back to the US isn't going to change anything. It will all have still happened. All you can do is try to heal. You have us. We can help you. You're making rash decisions."

"You know, I don't think I am." I put my head on his shoulder. "And I think I'm going to go alone."

Niall's eyes were wide. "Allie, you can't."

"I have to."

"No, you don't. I don't think I can let you just go off like that."

"Niall, I'm not a child."

"Okay, okay, sure. But..." Niall trailed off.

"I'm sorry. I know this...this isn't fun for you either." I took a deep breath. "But I need to get away for awhile. I need space."

"So...you're just going to go?" Niall asked weakly.

"I have to. I'm going to college in September, and I kinda need to forget everything that's happened here," I explained, twirling my hair around my finger. I looked up into his eyes. "It's not going to be forever."

"Not forever," he repeated. "But it will feel like it."

I couldn't say anything. His eyes were too full of pain. He took my hand. "I need you," he whispered.

I looked away. "Here; I'll make a deal with you."

Niall snorted. "A deal?"

"Yes, a deal!" I faced him again. "Look. Exactly a year from today, August 5th, I'll come back. At 5:30 p.m., I'll meet you at the front of the coffee shop, and I promise, promise, that everything will be better. I just need a break."

Niall was silent for awhile. I knew what he was thinking: a year was a long time to be apart from someone like this. It hurt me already, like a searing, burning pain. But I needed this. It would be good for me, to heal alone. And only time can do that. I wouldn't have time here. It would be "okay, your dad's dead. Get over it."

"You can't promise that," Niall said with a sigh, "but I know you need space. Fine. Go. If this is what you need, then do it. I'll always be here for you, though. Remember that. I can't...lose you."

"I'll never forget," I told him, "and you won't even lose me. You're the one that found me in the first place."

He kissed me, a sad kiss with a lingering hope, because hope is the one thing that violence and separation can never destroy, and then was gone.